Loving Learning Literacy

Prep to Year 2 Class and Home Readers

Dear Families,

We would like to let you know about an update to in class and home reading in Prep to Year 2.

Our school is moving away from levelled readers as the main take-home books. While levelled texts group children by a “reading level,” research from the Science of Learning shows that a level does not accurately represent a child’s reading ability. Reading develops through specific foundational skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and language comprehension, rather than through progressing up book levels.

Predictable or highly patterned levelled texts can give the impression of reading success, even when a child is relying on memory, repetition, or pictures rather than applying their knowledge of sounds and letters. This can become guessing words rather than reading.

Instead, students will bring home decodable texts as part of their homework. These texts are carefully matched to the sounds and spelling patterns that have been explicitly taught in class, allowing students to practise and consolidate their decoding (sounding out) skills with accuracy and confidence. Decodable texts allow students to sound out words using their letter/ sound knowledge, as opposed to guessing words.

Students may also receive non-decodable texts for reading enjoyment, the goal is to build vocabulary, background knowledge, and a love of stories in alignment with the Science of Reading. Even if they cannot yet decode every word independently, they can identify letter-sound patterns and high-frequency words they know to reinforce their phonics skills. Parents may also read the text aloud, supporting language comprehension while decoding skills continue to develop.

This approach aligns with current evidence about how children learn to read and ensures that home reading directly reinforces classroom instruction.

There will be a parent information session on Tuesday 24th March from 2.00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. which will explain the changes to our English learning further. Please register your attendance by completing the eform Prep to Year 2 Literacy Learning Workshop.

We thank you for your continued support.